The Law on Protection sets out the following alternatives to detention for asylum applicants:
- An obligation to report;
- Bail options (zabezpieczenie pieniężne);
- The obligation to stay in a designated place.
BG can use more than one alternative in the case of any third-country national.[1] Alternatives can be applied by the BG who apprehended the asylum applicant concerned or by the court (subsequent to a BG’s decision not to apply alternatives and who have submitted an application for detention to the court).[2] An asylum applicant can be detained only if the alternatives to detention cannot be applied.[3] In practice, asylum applicants are placed in detention automatically (see Grounds for detention).[4] The detention rate before the Regional Court in Bialystok in 2024 was 100%: out of 159 court filings, only 2 filed by a foreigner or their representative were upheld, while in all remaining cases the Border Guard’s request was granted in whole or in part. Similarly, in 2025, none of the 104 complaints filed by detainees or their lawyers were successful.[5] Alternatives to detention are either not considered, not properly justified or the reasons why they cannot be applied are not explained in detail.[6]
In 2025 the Border Guard applied 2,099 alternative measures to detention in relation to 1,351 third-country nationals: (breakdown by legal basis) 943 people under the Act on Foreigners and 430 under the Act on Granting Protection to Foreigners on the Territory of Poland. In addition, the courts applied 30 alternative measures to detention in relation to 22 people.[7]
Over the period 2019-2025 alternatives to detention were used as follows for third-country nationals, including asylum seekers and returnees:[8]
| Alternatives to detention in Poland: 2019 – 2025 | |||||||
| Type of alternative | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
| Reporting obligations | 1,603 | 507 | 818 | 934 | 1,933 | 4,097 | 1,311 |
| Residence in a designated place | 1,522 | 476 | 233 | 281 | 280 | 2,071 | 578 |
| Bail | 3 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 4 |
| Surrendering travel documents | 36 | 39 | 343 | 223 | 508 | 337 | 206 |
| Total | 3,164 | 1,023 | 1,397 | 1,444 | 2,725 | 6,510 | 2,099 |
Source: Border Guard, 14 and 25 January 2019, 17 January 2020, 5 February 2021, Instytut Nauk Prawnych, 2 February, Border Guard March 2022, 25 January 2023; Border Guard Headquarters, 21 March 2024, Border Guard Headquarters, 7 March 2025, Border Guards Headquarters, 6 March 2026.
According to Polish NGOs, in 2025 courts still examine the possibility of using alternatives to detention only in a superficial way.[9] Courts very often argue that it is not possible to impose an alternative to detention based on the risk of absconding and that asylum applicants had no money or no place to stay, ignoring the fact that asylum applicants have a right to live and receive financial assistance in open centres for foreigners managed by the Head of the Office for Foreigners.[10] The courts generally consider that irregular entry is a sufficient element to determine the existence of a risk of absconding, without conducting an individual assessment to evaluate whether alternatives to detention can apply, contrary to the jugement of the Supreme Court.[11]
[1] Article 88(3) of the Law on Protection.
[2] Articles 88(2) and 88b(2)-(3) Law on Protection.
[3] Article 88a(1) Law on Protection.
[4] Witold Klaus, Monika Szulecka, Dominik Wzorek, Detencja i jej alternatywy. Analiza orzecznictwa sądowego w sprawie umieszczania cudzoziemców w ośrodkach strzeżonych, Wydawnictwo Instytutu Wymiaru Sprawiedliwości, 2024, 51 and 153.
[5] Information based on the analysis of information received by HFHR from district and regional courts in procedures of access to public information covering the period of 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2024 and January to November 2025.
[6] Information provided by Legal Intervention Association Rule of Law Institute and Nomada Association, February 2026.
[7] Information provided by Border Guards Headquaters, March 2026.
[8] In practice, a person may be subject to more than one alternative measure.
[9] Witold Klaus, Monika Szulecka, Dominik Wzorek, Detencja i jej alternatywy. Analiza orzecznictwa sądowego w sprawie umieszczania cudzoziemców w ośrodkach strzeżonych, Wydawnictwo Instytutu Wymiaru Sprawiedliwości, 2024, 97. The first and second instance court ignore the fact that the migrant could pay the bail, she had a place to live in Poland as she was living in Poland for 9 years.
[10] Information provided by HFHR in January 2026.
[11] Witold Klaus, Monika Szulecka, Dominik Wzorek, Detencja i jej alternatywy. Analiza orzecznictwa sądowego w sprawie umieszczania cudzoziemców w ośrodkach strzeżonych, Wydawnictwo Instytutu Wymiaru Sprawiedliwości, 2024, 165, 193.